First
presentation to the public for the FRES programme Scout
demonstrator vehicle

Suppliers, politicians,
British Army soldiers, foreign delegations, academics
and media were among those who viewed the BAE Systems
FRES Scout demonstrator vehicle when it made a surprise
appearance in London.

Visitors
to the Armoured Fighting Vehicles show and conference
in London's Docklands at the beginning of February were
impressed by the maturity of the design when they saw
the vehicle and footage of it on trials. The turret represents
the culmination of five years' and £50 million investment,
while the chassis is the latest development of the CV90,
of which more than a thousand have been built.

The
first day of the Conference and Exhibition “International
Armoured Vehicles 2010” was devoted to talks on
various systems and methodologies of drive by the use
of technologies of video simulator and the integration
of the applications of video games. In order to reduce
the costs of real drives, mainly for the armoured units,
several armies of the world call upon companies of the
field of video simulation to produce applications 3D which
reproduce the various possibilities of control and shootings
of a combat armored vehicle. The use of this type of technology
makes it possible to reproduce in a virtual form, the
new zones of combat in order to apply standards procedures
and to prepare the troops with new the threats of the
battle field. These programs are developed on the basis
of experiment of the troops in combat zones like Iraq
and Afghanistan. Thanks to the power of the modern computers,
and the possibility of reproducing in digital form, the
ground and all the human factors and equipment/vehicles
of the civil and military field, it is possible to reproduce
today with exactitude a whole a series of scenarios make
it possible to prepare the soldiers, since the individual
level up to a level of army corps to different situations
from the current combat. The use of these means will never
replace the experiment of the combat, but makes it possible
to formalize and apply military procedures standards.

The guest’s speaker,
01 February 2010:
- Paul Wade, CEO and President, of Training
and Simulation Dynamics Group LLC (TSDG) of Austin, Texas
working in a subcontract role for SAIC to develop new
marketing and customer development activities worldwide.
Paul Wade has forty (40) years of experience creating,
implementing and marketing innovative training and operational
support programs for Training Companies, Aircraft Manufacturers,
Air Carriers, US & Foreign Military and Universities
& Vocational Technology Schools.
- Mike Kerrigan is the product line manager
for the Common Driver Trainer (CDT), serving in that position
since the inception of the program six years ago. During
that time, the CDT’s architecture has allowed the
delivery of the Stryker variant, four different MRAP simulators
(RG31, RG33L, MaxxPro, Caiman) to include a mobile version
and is currently delivering the All-Terrain M-ATV variant.
The SAIC CDT Team is also under contract to deliver trainer
for the M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams tank variant, the Joint Assault
Bridge (JAB) and the Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV).
- Colonel Tim Hyams was commissioned
into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (now the
Royal Dragoon Guards) in 1986. He has served in variety
of appointments as Regimental duty: as Troop Leader, Reconnaissance
Troop Leader, Adjutant, Squadron Leader,and, from 2005-2008,
as Commanding Officer. His most recent operational tour
has been commanding his Regimental Battleground, deployed
to Iraq in 2007-2008. Tim Hyams was promoted to Colonel
in July 2008. Tim Hyams is now Command, Staff and Tactical
Training Group, Land Warfare Center of British army. As
commander of the Command, Staff and Tactical Training
Group, he is responsible for the delivery of the British
Army’s command and staff collective training, together
with tactical training in the constructive environment.
- Thomas Lasch, Chief of the Models &
Simulation Branch at the Joint Multinational Simulation
Center, 7th U.S. Army Joint Multinational Training Command,
Grafenwoehr, Germany. He was formerly assigned as Project
Director at the Program Executive Office, Simulation,
Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) in Orlando, Florida
and as the Director, Training Analysis Computer Support
& Simulation, Joint Multinational readiness Center
(JMRC), Hofenfels, Germany.
- Nils Hinrichsen, eSim Games’
Director of Customer Relations since its foundation. Since
2003 the “Steel Beasts Professional” product
has been adapted to customer requirements in Australia,
Europe, and the America.
- Major Henrik Kolding Kristensen, Chief,
Research & Development Branch, Danish Army Combat
Centre. It is in charge of the development and the integration
of a simulation program of control and combat for the
armoured troops of the Danish army.

Oshkosh
Defence will showcase their vehicle armouring capabilities
at International Armoured Vehicles taking place on the
1st to the 5th February, at the ExCel Centre, London.
As calls across the globe for improved equipment to be
provided to troops in Afghanistan, Oshkosh have received
significant praise from the U.S Defense Secretary, Robert
Gates, who claims that Oshkosh’s rapid build up
of a new class of military vehicles designed for specifically
for Afghanistan, is one of the most remarkable efforts
in the defence industry since World War II.With recorded
statistics indicating that eight American troops have
died in combat through attacks on armoured military vehicles,
and forty more wounded, there is the sense of a growing
need to hasten global efforts to upgrade armoured vehicle
military capabilities. Exhibiting their new SandCat, the
high-speed, highly-protected, highly-manoeuvrable vehicle
can be specifically configured to fulfil a variety of
roles in any type of mission. The SandCat is tailored
to meet operational environments, giving the perfect balance
of mission performance, protection and payload to meet
rigorous demands.

About
the Oshkosh SandCat:

Built on a commercial Ford 550 commercial
chassis, the 9-ton Oshkosh SANDCAT protected vehicle is
designed for potential mass production. The Oshkosh SandCat
is a protected multirole vehicle built to offer high performance
and payload capacities for challenging missions. The SandCat
is new concept of light multi-role protected vehicle,
especialy designed to conduct urban operations and security
missions with a totally new vehicle capability. This high-speed,
higly-protected, highly-maneuverable vehicle can be specificaly
designed for a wide variety of roles. It can be reconfigured
to fit a wide variety of missions: military, homeland
defense, global war on terror, law enforcement and security,
special operations, disaster aid and peace-keeping missions.
All while meeting the rigorous demands needed for crew
and vehicle protection, reliability, versatility, payload
capacity and affordability. The Oshlkosh SandCat multi-role
vehicle concept, with use of a commercial chassis and
kitted hull, allows for rapid and efficient manufacturing.
It also enables customization of the survivability technologies
to fit the mission. Adaptations can be made based on the
relevant threat levels and enhanced on demand while optimizing
the vehicle for weight, space, payload, cost and assembly.

Since
development started on the LMV in 1999, Iveco Defence
Vehicles Engineers have always recognised that the vehicle’s
design could not stand still. If it was to continue to
meet the evolving needs of the disparate user
community, it was clear that the vehicle design team would
have to anticipate how requirements would develop and
put in place plans to meet them.In order to achieve this
goal, two prerequisites needed to be put in place: firstly,
the basic vehicle design would have to be sufficiently
robust and adaptable to accommodate significant design
changes, and, secondly, the design team would have to
be capable of making reasoned forecasts as to the likely
direction in which the user’s requirements would
move. The first of these goals was achieved through the
original LMV design which adopted a modular approach to
ballistic and mine protection, and incorporated a crew
cell mounted on to a purpose designed chassis. Both the
roof and the stowage pod are modular, enabling the vehicle
to be configured to meet the demands of different users
without altering the base design. The design team had
conceived the highly successful short wheel base (3220
mm) /four man cab as only the first of a family of vehicles,
and it was here, in anticipating the likely growth paths
of the user’s requirements, that the second prerequisite
was put in place. The design team anticipated not just
the inevitable demands for more payload, greater capacity
and higher levels of protection, but also foresaw the
need for a light protected utility design, and all the
variants which might derive from it.

As a result, although the majority of the 2,000 + LMVs
sold to date are short wheel base vehicles in the original
configuration, the evolving demands of the user are increasingly
influencing the design team to focus on
variants of the longer 3520 mm wheelbase design. Besides
enabling more room to be provided in the crew cell, this
variant can also incorporate a longer stowage pod, substantially
increasing the vehicle’s capacity. The inevitable
corollary of providing greater capacity is that the vehicle
has to support a higher usable payload than was originally
envisaged, and yet the move to a longer wheelbase with
a larger crew cell and higher levels of protection inevitably
pushes the kerb weight of the vehicle up. To counter this,
the design team has undertaken a series of design exercises
to both enable the GVW of the vehicle to be increased
and to take weight out of the vehicle design. As a result
of such expedients as incorporating an integral hard top
in place of a roll cage, altering the roof hatch design,
incorporating new seats and changing the design of the
transparent armour, the kerb weight of the vehicle has
been reduced by some 350 kgs. At the same time, the allowable
GVW of the vehicle has been increased from 7,000 to 7,500
kgs through developments on the frame, brakes and suspension.
The design team has thus succeeded in delivering to the
user a vehicle which, whilst retaining extensive commonality
with the earlier models, nonetheless provides greatly
increased capacity, payload and, if required, protection.

These design developments have allowed the LMV to move
beyond its established role as a protected liaison and
patrol vehicle, and provide the potential to the user
of a more flexible and capable family of vehicles, as
had originally been intended. The Spanish and Italian
armies have already taken delivery of long wheel base
LMVs configured as casualty evacuation vehicles, whilst
the majority of Iveco’s current offerings are now
based on the 7.5 tonne GVW long wheel base platform. This
has also provided the basis for the development of solutions
for such programmes as the UK’s OUVS and LPPV programmes,
in both of which the LMV has provided the platform for
solutions which closely match the requirement. As
the vehicle is used in an increasing number of roles,
so the engineering challenges posed by adapting the base
design to match the customer needs become more demanding.
Often, it is just those design features which make the
vehicle particularly desirable for a given role, such
as low weight, narrow wheel track and high terrain accessibility,
which also add to the design challenge. A case in point
is the increasing requirement for heavier roof mounted
systems, including 12.7 mm overhead weapon stations and
other weapon systems. Whilst a relatively narrow vehicle
undoubtedly has excellent terrain accessibility and utility
in built up areas, the addition of weapon mounts beyond
a given weight can compromise stability. To counter this,
the design team have now developed hydropneumatic suspension
which substantially improves vehicle road-holding when
the vehicle has a relatively high centre of gravity.

One of the most pressing
design requirements which is now being encountered is
the almost insatiable demand for ever greater levels of
on-board electrical power. This is driven principally
by the need to power communications and onboard ECM equipment
and is very significantly in excess of original planning
assumptions. Where once a 200 A alternator might have
been sufficient, even generous, now 300 A is the threshold
level, and there is no doubt that this will rise further
in the future. Although much can be achieved with the
most recent generation of high efficiency alternators,
it appears likely that a more radical approach may be
required in the future. Here, too, Iveco’s engineers
are well positioned because the LMV engine already provides
the basis for a commercially available hybrid electric
drive system. This promises to provide the opportunity
to deliver high levels of electrical power in the future,
and presents limited technical risk as the system is already
in commercial use.